When was epo created

In low oxygen states, people risk developing hypoxia - oxygen deprivation. Hypoxia can also occur when there is poor ventilation of the lungs such as occurs in chronic lung disease, emphysema and in cardiovascular disease.

Excess erythropoietin results from chronic exposure to low oxygen levels or from rare tumours that produce high levels of erythropoietin. It causes a condition known as polycythaemia which means high red blood cell count. In many people, polycythaemia does not cause any symptoms. However, there are some general and non-specific symptoms including weakness, fatigue, headache, itching, joint pain and dizziness.

If you have too little erythropoietin, which is usually caused by chronic kidney disease, there will be fewer red blood cells and you will have anaemia. Erythropoietin has been made synthetically for the treatment of anaemia that results from chronic kidney failure. It is also given to patients with some rarer types of cancer. Some professional athletes have used this type of erythropoietin known as blood doping to improve their performance, particularly to increase endurance. Artificially increasing your erythropoietin levels produces more haemoglobin and red blood cells and therefore improves the amount of oxygen that can be delivered to tissues, particularly muscles.

This can improve performance capacity, although this type of doping practice is banned by most professional sport committees.

Yes, erythropoietin hormone levels can be measured in the blood. The test is done with a simple blood test, preferably a morning sample collection. A needle is used for drawing blood from a vein on your arm. The test results may vary based on your age, sex, health status, and even the method used for the test.

Battistelli has identified maintaining a crucial balance between inventors' and industry's interests and those of society and the economy as being of paramount importance in the emerging 21st century.

He looks to provide maximum transparency on the criteria the EPO uses to determine patentability, and to further increase the broad dissemination of patent documentation. During Battistelli's presidency, the EPO signs an important agreement with the USPTO to harmonise their classification systems and launches a state-of-the-art online patent translation service. In order to promote greater harmonisation of patent classification and migrate towards a common classification scheme, the USPTO and the EPO agree to launch a Cooperative Patent Classification CPC , a new joint classification system for patent documents.

The EPO provides a web-based consultation platform so that patent system users can participate in the law-making process of the European Patent Organisation. The EPO posts draft amendments to European patent law and practice, and users are invited to respond in surveys on the proposed changes. Capping decades of work towards the establishment of a truly Europe-wide patent, an agreement on the establishment of a European Union patent, or unitary patent, is reached during a European Council meeting on June.

Capping decades of work towards the establishment of a truly Europe-wide patent, an agreement on the establishment of a European Union patent, or Unitary Patent, is reached during a European Council meeting on June. Leaders of 25 of the 27 EU member states agree to the legislation necessary for the Unitary Patent's creation. This legislation is later approved by the European Parliament in December. Once established, a granted unitary patent will be valid in all participating countries and, unlike the existing European patent, will no longer be a collection of nationally enforceable patents bundled together.

The system will reduce translation and maintenance fees and will also create a unified patent court for all participating countries.

The EPO's machine translation service, Patent Translate, removes language barriers to patent information. In , the number of available languages offered grows to 22, with ten more scheduled for implementation before the end of The Unitary Patent is now set to enter into force at an unspecified date after 1 January A group of amendments still require approval by the European Council and Parliament.

A committee charged with creating a roadmap for establishing the Unified Patent Court indicates that early is a realistic target date for the court and the Unitary Patent to take effect. The CPC includes around symbols, making it the most refined scheme available for classifying inventions. Its implementation boosts efficiency through work-sharing initiatives and helps reduce unnecessary work duplication.

It performs an automatic machine translation when Chinese documents are requested in English. The EPO introduces the "Early Certainty from Search" scheme, which aims to issue all search reports and written opinions on patentability within six months of filing.

The scheme benefits companies and inventors seeking patent protection in Europe by ensuring timely delivery of all search reports and opinions on their applications, giving them a sound basis for their patenting strategies early on. It also benefits the general public by enhancing the transparency of pending patent rights in Europe, providing an overview of prior art and patentability at an early stage in the proceedings. The EPO achieves ISO certification for its quality management system, which covers the search, examination, opposition, limitation and revocation stages of its patent granting process.

ISO certification is an internationally recognised standard for quality management systems. The process of certification requires senior management engagement, solid processes and monitoring as well as staff commitment. Morocco becomes the 41st country for which patent protection can be obtained on the basis of a European patent application.

Under the validation system, anyone filing a European patent application can request validation for Morocco and pay a validation fee. European applications and patents validated for Morocco have the same legal effects there as Moroccan ones, and are subject to Moroccan patent law. The EPO for the first time publishes its Service Regulations, with the aim of enhancing transparency over how it functions and over its internal regulatory framework.

Previously published only internally, the Service Regulations have been made available to all stakeholders and potential job applicants. Their publication puts the EPO on a par with other leading international organisations in terms of the transparency of its internal regulatory framework.

Ranging from recruitment to retirement, and including staff rights and obligations, the career system, working conditions, and remuneration and benefits, the regulations provide a detailed legal framework for employment at the EPO. The Trilateral Offices look back on 35 years of co-operation. Recent achievements have included the development and continued improvement of the Common Citation Document CCD service, which provides easy web access to results from patent searches carried out by multiple offices for the same invention.

Following an agreement between the EPO and Tunisia, as of European patents can be validated and thus regarded as national Tunisian ones. The EPO also signs an agreement with Cambodia in force as of allowing European patent applications and patents to be validated there, its first validation agreement with an Asian nation. The EPO publishes its first ever Quality Report, an annual review of how the Office implements its quality policy in all of its products and services, and again achieves ISO certification for the entire patent process.

The history of the EPO. European Patent Convention signed in Munich On 5 October, after more than 20 years of negotiations and debate, 16 countries sign the European Patent Convention. European Patent Office starts work Jump to next milestone. The IIB had been established in to manage patent searches for Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with five more countries joining later: Turkey , Monaco , Switzerland , the United Kingdom and Italy During the Cold War, Berlin symbolises the clash between East and West, and the choice to locate a third EPO office in the city was, at least in part, politically motivated.

When the Berlin Wall falls in , the city becomes an emblem of a new era in European and world politics. Isar building opens in Munich Jump to next milestone.

EPO grants first patents Jump to next milestone. EPO becomes financially independent The EPO is funded solely through procedural fees and a proportion of the renewal fees for granted European patents.

EPO handles first opposition procedure. Greece and Spain join European Patent Organisation. BEST pilot project starts Originally involving only eight examiners, the BEST Bringing Examination and Search Together pilot project explores having an individual examiner perform both prior-art search and substantive examination, which are normally carried out by two different examiners in separate locations.

Vienna sub-office opens Jump to next milestone. More than applications filed this year. Espacenet launched The Espacenet search engine has undoubtedly done more than any other single product to change the face of patent information. London Agreement on reducing translation costs EPO member states create an optional additional agreement to help reduce translation costs.

First patent applications filed online, online file inspection available The EPO launches a new era of internet services and receives its first electronic application via epoline on 8 December. European Patent Academy founded Jump to next milestone. European Patent Academy founded The EPO establishes the European Patent Academy to educate and train a diverse audience, including patent professionals, judges, public servants, business managers and academics, who deal directly with intellectual property issues and the patent system.

Latvia joins European Patent Organisation Scenarios for the Future study is launched Through a series of interviews with patent system users, experts and critics in many countries, the study shows how the patent system is inextricably linked to social, economic, technological and global political trends.

Read more Scenarios for the Future study is launched One of the first and most significant projects undertaken by EPO President Alain Pompidou - begun before he takes office - is a far-sighted investigation of what the patent system might look like in 20 years. First annual European Inventor Awards presented in Brussels A gala ceremony in Brussels honours top inventors whose creative ideas have had far-reaching effects on technological innovation and economic growth, and who have helped shape and improve our daily lives.

A century ago, two French investigators reported that small amounts of plasma from anemic rabbits injected into normal animals caused an increase in red blood cell production erythropoiesis within a few hours. They referred to this activity as hemopoietine. Over time, as investigators became more convinced that this red-blood-cell stimulating activity was caused by a single protein in the blood plasma, they gave it a variety of names - erythropoietic-stimulating activity, erythropoietic-stimulating factor, and, ultimately, "erythropoietin.

It wasn't until the s and '60s that several American investigators again took up the concept that a hormone regulated red cell production. Refining the work of the French scientists, the American investigators conclusively showed that a hormone stimulated red cell production, that the kidneys were the primary source of erythropoietin, and that low oxygen was the main driver of erythropoietin production.

Soon, researchers found that patients with anemia responded by increasing their levels of erythropoietin to stimulate increased red blood cell production. Patients who required an increase in red blood cells in order to make up for low oxygen levels in the blood such as patients with lung disease or patients living at high altitudes also had elevated erythropoietin levels.

At the same time, other technologies were being developed that set the stage for a remarkable breakthrough involving a combination of medical and molecular engineering. In the early s came the development of hemodialysis, a method of removing waste products from the blood when the kidneys are unable to perform this function, to sustain the lives of patients with end-stage kidney disease. As a result of this treatment advance, these patients were able to survive the underlying disease, but their damaged kidneys could no longer make erythropoietin, leaving them severely anemic and in desperate need of Epo therapy.

In , scientists discovered a method for mass producing a synthetic version of the hormone.